The Crimson Tide (book)
:For other uses of '''The Crimson Tide', see'' The Crimson Tide The Crimson Tide is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Paul Mason, illustrated by Terry Oakes and originally published in 1992 by Puffin Books. It is the 47th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031922-0). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series. Creation Background - Back Cover ("Dragon" Edition)}} ''The Crimson Tide is set in the Isles of the Dawn in the Southern hemisphere of Titan. The events of the book take place after those described in a previous book, Black Vein Prophecy. The player character begins as a young child whose father has been killed and whose mother has been kidnapped by mercenaries. The story follows the child's progression towards adulthood and revenge. Introduction The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). Unique Rules *Because the player begins the book aged thirteen, their attribute scores may eventually exceed their "Initial" values which become fixed once they reach eighteen. - pg.8 *age is an attribute of the book due to the young age of the player at the outset and has an affect on the gameplay. Also, at each age increase the player is able to restore their "Temporary" stamina to the "Permanent" figure. - pg.9 *''The Crimson Tide'' also introduces the attribute of ferocity which is determined by a 1d6 roll with the addition of half the player's stamina score (with halves rounded upwards). - pg.7 Should the player's ferocity score fall to 0 or less they are instructed to turn to (200). Also, for each age increase the player is to lower their ferocity score by 2 points. Equipment List The player begins the adventure with nothing more than a Wooden Sword, - pg.14 although they gain 2 Provisions in the opening paragraph. - 1 Cover and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Alan Craddock. Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Terry Oakes. There were 30 full page illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 19, 33, 46, 54, 64, 83, 97, 103, 111, 129, 137, 146, 158, 166, 176, 198, 225, 231, 241, 253, 272, 290, 306, 322, 344, 356, 373, 381 and 388. Intertextual References The book contains a reference to the earlier Fighting Fantasy book Sword of the Samurai in that the player can encounter a character from Hachiman, the region in which the earlier book is set. Prequel The Crimson Tide ties-in with Paul Mason's previous Fighting Fantasy book, Black Vein Prophecy. The player character meets several characters from Black Vein Prophecy, including the player character from the successful ending to the earlier book, who is now a king. Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of The Crimson Tide *Abbot Dry Jade - Monk *Adviser Pantu *Ambassador Keiko *Aunt Yubei *Bezenvial *Black Cauldron - Monk *Bofu *Councillor Merzei *Feior *Flying Turtle - Monk *God-King Poo Ta *Hani *Jian - Swordsman *King Maior *Kuangong - Mine Owner/Slave Master *Master Yao *Meng *Quan *Shasi - Mercenary *Suiyuan *Sunai *Uncle Zhonggao *Yuemo *Zhanshi - Mercenary Leader *Zhenguei Locations *Altar of Earnest Entreaty *Baochou *Baochou Monastery *Bofu's House *Golden Crane Mountains *Hachiman *Isles of the Dawn *North Gate *Shoudu *Traole *Tura *Yenshu Encounters *Arena Beast *Cangui *Cesuoshe’s Tongue *Chonggui *Deaths Messenger *Giant Mudworm *Humans - Dragon Guard/Drunk/Constable/Mercenary/Monk/Royal Guard/Ruffian/Samurai/Town Thug/Warder/White-Faced Monk *Mercenary Leader/Zhanshi *Mengemo *Yuemo Further Notes *Unlike other Fighting Fantasy books is the fact that many of the premature endings to the book do not involve the death or failure of the player character. These endings include the player character living the rest of his life as a monk, a sailor or a basket weaver, without finding his mother or obtaining his revenge. *The copyright page of the first edition lists a map by Leo Hartas which is not present in the book. *The "Introduction" section is missing its page numbers. *The Shark-creatures featured on the cover play no role in the story. *(400) is not the successful conclusion to the adventure. *Almost every significant place or character name is actually a symbolic word or phrase, transliterated directly from Mandarin Chinese. Notable examples include: Baochou Monastery (Revenge Monastery), the main character's uncle and aunt Zhonggao and Yubei (Well-intentioned Advice and Preparation), the supernatural guide Meng Zhidao (Dream Guidance), the capital Shoudu (Foremost City, a term used in China to refer to the capital of a country or region), the rebel leader Suiyuan (Source of Water), and the demon advisor Pantu (Traitor). Due to the nature of Mandarin Chinese, other allusions may exist but cannot be confirmed, since the words written in the English alphabet may correspond to more than one equivalent word in Chinese. Merzei, Traole and Maior, among others, do not correspond to any known Mandarin Chinese words. *The naming of Feior and Maior's spells in Black Vein Prophecy follows the same convention: Baopo (Explosion), Biantai (Perversion/Mutation), Shangsuo (Apply Lock), Tiaohe (Rebalance). Errors *One of the first enemies encountered is a Giant Mudworm, with a skill score of 12 (at this point the highest possible skill which the player character could have is 6), rendering the combat virtually impossible to win without having the player cheat at this point. This was an editing mistake by Marc Gascoigne (whom Mason later referred to as a "dingbat" and "a total idiot") who forgot that the player began the book as a child and altered the skill score of the Mudworm from 6 to 12.Letter from Paul Mason at the Internet Archive record of the old Fightingfantasy.com - Retrieved 2019-10-26 Dedication Dedicated to Keiko, Ambassador of Ai - pg.4 See Also *''The Wailing World'' Reviews External Links *Character Sheet - Retrieved 2019-10-26 References Category:1992 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series